1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle guidance apparatus and a vehicle guidance method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle guidance apparatus has been proposed for aligning (matching) the position of a power receiving unit in the vehicle with (to) the position of a power supplying unit on the ground side when non-contact charging is performed.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2011-217460 discloses a charge assistance device for vehicles by which when a vehicle is parked in a parking frame under which a power supplying unit is buried, a position at which a highest charge efficiency is achieved by avoiding obstacles and the charge efficiency are displayed on an in-vehicle display device so as to guide the vehicle (see [0052], [0053] in JP-A No. 2011-217460).
In the above situation, the charge efficiency is highest when the central axis of the coil of the power supplying unit and the central axis of the coil of a power receiving unit match each other, and has the characteristics such that the charge efficiency reduces as the displacement between the positions of the central axes increases. The charge efficiency is pre-stored as a charge efficiency map in a data storage unit of the vehicle (see [0027], [0029], [0047], FIG. 1, FIG. 4 in JP-A No. 2011-217460).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2012-210008 discloses a display device for vehicles that displays a power receiving unit of the vehicle and a power supplying device outside the vehicle on an in-vehicle display device when non-contact charging is performed, and in consideration of the remaining capacity of a storage battery, when the remaining capacity is low, the guide line for guiding the power receiving unit to the power supplying device is displayed with a thin line, whereas when the remaining capacity is high, the guide line is displayed with a thick line so that the charge efficiency and reduction of stress of a driver for positioning the vehicle are taken into consideration ([0023], [0025] in JP-A No. 2012-210008).